The Anatomy of Murder

by The Detection Club

Readers take a seat on the jury of some of the most perplexing crimes of all time as The Anatomy of Murder brings together The Detection Club's finest investigations of devilishly challenging cases of murder.

Genres: Mystery, True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, History, Essays, Short Stories

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

Formed c. 1930, the Detection Club is a group of (mostly British) mystery writers who occasionally write collaborative works.

Presidents:
G.K. Chesterton (1930–1936)
E. C. Bentley (1936–1949)
Dorothy L. Sayers (1949–1957)
Agatha Christie (1957–1976)
Lord Gorell (1957–1963)
Julian Symons (1976–1985)
H. R. F. Keating (1985–2000)
Simon Brett (2000–2015)
Martin Edwards (2015–)

Past members include: Anthony Berkeley, G.D.H. Cole, Margaret Cole, Freeman Wills Croft, Clemence Dane , Edgar Jepson, Milward Kennedy, Ronald Knox, John Rhode, Henry Wade, Victor L. Whitechurch, Gladys Mitchell, E.C.R. Lorac and Helen de Guerry Simpson

Reviews

[Vikas Singh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Average read. Despite the fact that seven of Britain's greatest classic crime writers and members of the detection club take turns to comment on some of the most chilling murders, the collection is at best an average read. Some pieces like that by Francis Iles is downright boring and at several places seem to drag on and on. Despite being advertised as commentary several pieces are just verbatim rendition of the actual crime and the trial. Avoid.

[Emmy B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of essays by the members of the Detection Club, in which they dissect and analyse a favourite real-life crime. I borrowed this from my library, and I enjoyed the read by and large. With the exception of two essays, which I skipped entirely, the remainder presented interesting cases, a sound and logical analysis and some pertinent thoughts on how these relate to the design and execution of a fictional murder.

Case 1: The Death of Henry Kinder
by Helen Simpson
Rating: 2.5/5
A bit flowery in her descriptions, which at times obfuscated clarity. Went on a bit too long.

Case 2: Constance Kent
by John Rhode
Rating: 4/5
Rhode wrote a whole book about this murder, so is something of an authority on the subject. I've read The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher which also covers this extensively. Definitely a fascinating case and a good summary.

Case 3: The Case of Adelaide Bartlett
by Margaret Cole
Rating: 5/5
Hugely fascinating case, very engagingly written.

Case 4: An Impression of the Landru Case
by E.R. Punshon
Rating: 1.5/5
Read the Wikipedia article on this case and skip this chapter. Punshon is much more interested in his own flowery prose than in anything or anybody else. The case itself is honestly worthy of a TV show, though, so I will give him 0.5 points for choosing it.

Case 5: The Murder of Julia Wallace
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Rating:

Sayers is one of my favourite writers, and this is an excellent essay on one of the most bewildering criminal cases ever. Fascinating stuff, handled with care, her signature relentless logic but also fairness.

Case 6: The Rattenbury Case
by Francis Iles
Rating:
Might be good if you can make it past the pages and pages of a man's self-delighted misogynist musings on the nature of woman. I couldn't.

Case 7: A New Zealand Tragedy
by Freeman Wills Crofts
Rating: 5/5
Lovely, methodological recounting of a fascinating crime investigation, good detail of policework, generally very satisfying essay.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Detection Club" (founded in 1930) was a group of mostly (but not exclusively) British mystery writers. The club was largely the brainchild of Anthony Berkeley (a/k/a Francis Iles). He wanted to create a network of the leading mystery novelists of his day. The club included Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, John Dickson Carr (a/k/a Carter Dickson), G. K. Chesterton, and Freeman Wills Crofts. The Club funded its dinners and pay for the rent of their club building through "round robin" mysteries such as The Scoop and Behind the Screen and "collective" novels such as The Floating Admiral. "The Anatomy of Murder" is one of the latter, albeit nonfiction.

Seven writers each selected a crime to write about with somewhat inconsistent results.

1. Death of Henry Kinder - by Helen Simpson (note: the "Helen Simpson" listed on GR is a totally different person)

This is an obscure Australian murder that I had never heard of prior to reading this book. Henry Kinder was the principal teller in the City Bank of Sydney. Initially, it was thought that he had committed suicide by shooting himself. However, it quickly became obvious that he had been murdered. It also did not take long to figure out who had committed the crime - his "friend," Louis Bertrand, who had been having an affair with Mrs Kinder. Mrs Kinder and Bertrand's young wife Jane were arrested as well. Simpson's prose is rather old-fashioned, which I think suits this tale from 1865. I'm not sure if the crime is interesting enough, though. It's a very commonplace domestic murder, though Simpson does a good job of portraying Bertrand's obsession with Helen Kinder. However, Mrs Kinder never really comes to life. She is seen only through others' eyes, principally Bertrand. A better choice would probably have been Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters. ***

2. Constance Kent - by John Rhode

This is one of the most famous murder cases and an inspiration for many authors, including Wilkie Collins (The Moonstone) and Charles Dickens (The Mystery of Edwin Drood). Young Francis Saville Kent, almost four years old, vanishes one night and his body is found in a privy on the property. He had been brutally murdered. Eventually, his half-sister Constance confessed to the crime. Rhode gives a very detailed account of the crime, investigation, and the aftermath. He also gives a surprisingly sympathetic portrait of Detective Inspector Jack Whicher, who had conflicted feelings over what he had done. ****

3. The Case of Adelaide Bartlett by Margaret Cole

With her husband and co-writer, G.D.H. Cole, Margaret Cole was the author of several mysteries. However, they are mostly forgotten today. Cole gives a very good account of another famous mystery. Adelaide Bartlett was tried for the murder of her eccentric, health fanatic husband, Edwin Bartlett. The prosecution was unable to prove just how she had done it. To quote Sir James Paget, "Now that she has been acquitted for murder and cannot be tried again, she should tell us in the interest of science how she did it!" Cole tells the story with some light humor and actually gives one of the more interesting accounts of the crime. ****

4. An Impression of the Landru Case by E.R. Punshon

A rather verbose account of the French serial killer, who is known to have taken the lives of at least 10 women and a teenage boy. Punshon seems to believe, "Why use one word when I can use a dozen?" I can honestly say that this is the most boring account of a murder that I have ever read. It's enough to make one's eyes glaze over. Ugh. *

5. The Murder of Julia Wallace byDorothy L. Sayers

A very detailed, meticulous account of another famous murder. Sayers believed that Mrs Wallace's husband, William Wallace, was innocent. However, this did not stop her from examining every bit of evidence impartially and playing devil's advocate on occasion. Unlike Punshon, Sayers is never dull and makes the story interesting and easy to understand. I wish she had written more true crime. She was very good at it. ****

6. The Rattenbury Case by Francis Iles

If Sayers is impartial and fair in her account of the Wallace murder, Iles (Berkeley) is definitely partial in his of the Rattenbury murder. Alma Rattenbury and her young lover (and chauffeur), George Stoner, were charged with murdering her much older husband, Francis Rattenbury. It was a crime that reminded many people of the Thompson-Bywaters case in the 1920s. Alma and George conducted their affair right under Rattenbury's nose. Finally, George snapped one night and brutally murdered the old man. This is the second account I've read of the murder and is definitely superior to the other (which kept harping on Alma Rattenbury's "commonness" and "lack of taste" in a very snobbish way). Iles sympathized with the lovers, especially Alma, whom he believed to have been wrong. No, this is not an unbiased account of the crime by any means, but is certainly a well written and interesting one. ****

7. A New Zealand Tragedy by Freeman Wills Crofts

Another obscure murder, this one from New Zealand. Crofts is a good, workmanlike writer, very meticulous and detailed. I just read one of his short stories, "The Match," and the style in this true crime story is very much the same. Personally, I prefer "A New Zealand Tragedy" to "The Match." Crofts is deeply disturbed by this double murder (he calls it an "abominable murder") and details the fate of the killer with some satisfaction. This story is very much on the same level as Rhode's "Constance Kent" - solid, well written, and very detailed. ****

[Renita D'Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant

[Diana Lima]

An analysis of real murder cases by famous crime-fiction writers. Compelling and a real page-turner albeit the ever-present awareness that these were real people and not fictional characters. There is still the hope or expectation that the analysis will reveal something new, perhaps a crucial detail that the real detectives missed in their investigation; the hidden truth behind the case. I wanted to know more about the first case in the book, an unsolved case in Victorian England. I will be reading Kate Summerscale's "The Suspicions of Mr.Whicher", which presents a new approach on this Victorian cold case.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up. True crime has a bit of a bad rep. But the Sayers and Iles contributions to this anthology are things to be savoured.

[Eustacia Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Updated review at Eustea Reads

Original Review

This is my second Detection Club book and I liked it a lot more than the first one I read (while was Ask a Policeman). Unlike Ask a Policeman, which was a round robin novel, this is a collection of true crime stories written by notable crime writers. To be honest I only recognise Dorothy Sayers because I'm not that well read and tend to stick to a few authors but I really enjoyed all the stories here.

The cases covered here are:

Death of Henry Kinder, written by Helen Simpson
Constance Kent by John Rhode
The Case of Adelaide Bartlett by Margaret Cole
An Impression of the Landru Case by E. R. Punshon
The Murder of Julia Wallace by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Rattenbury Case by Francis Iles
A New Zealand Tragedy by Freeman Wills Crofts

Out of all the cases, the only one that I've heard of is the one about Constance Kent, and only because I've been wanting to read The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale (round of applause for me remembering an author's name)

Each author has their own take on the story but they generally recap the case and then add their views on it. And I'm really amazed that they fit it into a few pages because they felt like really good recaps. I would have read a book about each case.

This makes me a lot more eager to continue reading more from the Detection Club and their members. I would recommend this to anyone who's a fan of mystery and/or true crime. There is also a bibliography if you want to read more.

This review was first posted at Inside the mind of a Bibliophile

[nadine · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was simply incredible. i already like a lot of the detection club members' works, though i've only read the popular ones, so i expected that i'd enjoy this, and i truly did.

out of all of the cases discussed here, the ones i found most interesting was 'the murder of julia wallace' and 'the rattenbury case'. in all honesty, all of the cases were incredibly interesting, even those that i thought that i'd find boring, like the landru case. however, these two cases stood out to me, where this was due to the way that they were discussed.

i like sayers' work a lot and the way that she explains her take on the julia wallace murder is incredibly interesting because she lets the reader form their own opinion on who the murderer might be while hinting, rather heavily, that she believes it to be someone other than wallace. she always includes all of the details in her stories, and, here, she did the exact same thing, which helped further prove her view on who the murderer is.

the rattenbury case, alone, is quite interesting because it's so similar to the edith thompson case, which is one that i find incredibly intriguing, and francis iles', or, more appropriately, anthony berkeley's take on the case was peculiar but interesting nonetheless. his opinion reflects his personality a lot, i think, and that's why i found it both fascinating and irritating at the same time. he made sure to include all of the details within the case, which i consider incredible because he allowed the reader to form their own opinion of who the murderer is, while mentioning his own thoughts on the matter every now and then.

overall, this was an incredibly interesting read, since i want to know more about true crime. i'm not sure if other people would like this or not, but i would say that those who like true crime and mysteries, and have read some of the authors' works, would most likely enjoy this book a lot.

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seven mystery writers write about a real crime, the evidence discovered and the trial that they find of interest.

While it can be quite tedious at time to read through, it really shows and is commented upon succinctly by Crofts that the difference between reading a mystery and looking at a real crime is: “ Real life stories have an atmosphere of sordidness and evil which is happily absent from almost all detective novels.”

Even if you think that that is now a major feature in many current novels, after reading this book, I agree with him on this statement though it man seem broad.

Since many of these crimes happened from about the 1930’s and earlier, you can see how easily a mishandled crime scene, the opinions of what is “proper” of the time etc... can make solving a crime difficult. The same element of people being tried in the press is here and is still here.

My favorite chapters are by Punshon and Crofts due to they’re ability to edit down some of the minutiae and bulk of material in the various cases and make their points with more focus. But all the cases are horribly sad to read, and while Landru was certainly a serial killer, other murders seem to grow out of more sordid weakness. Good book to read though if you do read mysteries.

The mystery writers’ gift is to provide puzzles and stories about them and to use them to also comment upon humanity. Reading these “real life” stories is more anthropological, or even a psychological study of what people are and how investigations are challenging depending on the humans abilities to get to the truth.

[Izzati · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought two books by The Detection Club merely because Agatha Christie and Anthony Berkeley were part of the club. I thoroughly enjoyed Berkeley's style of writing with his approach to the humanity, morality and psychology of murderers in his other works, and figured I'd enjoy these books too, regardless what they're about. Little did I know that these books are not detective novels - they're actual cases as discussed by detective novelists.

See, the biggest difference between the two is that real cases are not often wrapped neatly like presents with pretty ribbons at the end - we don't always know who actually did it and we don't always get justice even if the cases went to court. The reality is that justice very much depends on how the 'game' is played in the court. Berkeley said it best, "The fact that a life is dependent on the way the game is played, and the winning of it, is lost in the game itself."

So it is very interesting to see how these famous novelists discussed the cases that caught their interest. They wrote them in such a way that would interest fiction readers, and inserted their own voices about what they thought actually happened.

But unfortunately for me, the same could not be said about the cases themselves. Personally, I didn't think the cases picked were anything extraordinary, especially compared to the many outrageous cases we've already heard. But then, in a way, the fact that the novelists still managed to retain my interest in the cases shows just how great they were as writers.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of 7 essays, originally published in 1936, on real-life murders, by leading crime writers of the 1930s. The first, Helen Simpson’s essay on the death of Henry Kinder is very dry, as is John Rhode’s analysis of Constance Kent, this story having interest as being about the events that inspired The Suspicions of Mr Whicher. Margaret Cole on Adelaide Barrett is slightly more lively, being more willing to offer opinion and observation. E R Punshon the the Landru case tells an interesting tale that feels like a short story, and perhaps to some extent is, as inevitably there is some element of speculation as to actual events, and in this particular case, no bodies were ever found, making Landru’s conviction all the more remarkable. Dorothy L Sayers’ essay on the still unsolved 1931 murder of Julia Wallace is a tale well told, as on the whole is Francis Iles on the murder of Francis Rattenbury, though it is a little drawn out, and I found myself annoyed at the casual sexism in the final pages examining whether Rattenbury’s wife had influence over her teenage lover, who was convicted of the murder. Women, it seems, could be blamed for most murders in one way or another. By far the most interesting was Freeman Willis Croft on the murder of Samuel and Christobel Lakey, for which Bill Bayly was convicted. The essay details the police investigation and the many pieces of evidence found and analysed. It is interesting as an essay on forensics.

[Damaskcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays covering seven crimes - all baffling in some way or another - written by seven of the Golden Age of crime writers including Dorothy L Sayers. One case is from Australia, one from New Zealand and one from France and the rest from the UK. I was particularly interested in the Wallace case as I haven't read much about it before and Dorothy L Sayers clearly went into it in some detail.

The Rattenbury case was totally unknown to me and while I didn't particularly appreciate Francis Isles' (Anthony Berkeley) comments on the nature of women I am sure his views were very common at the time and more common than many of us like to think in the twenty first century. He draws parallels between the Rattenbury case and that of the better known Thompson and Bywaters case.

I was interested to read about the famous French case - that of the serial murderer Landru - about which I knew nothing but the name. It was also good to read about Adelaide Bartlett and I shall definitely be reading more about this case. Many readers today will be familiar with the case of Constance Kent because of the book The Suspicions of Mr Wicher. Overall this is a well written collection of long essays on seven real life crimes which their authors make just as enthralling as their own crime fiction.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of interesting to read accounts of true crime by golden-age detective fiction writers, though many of them go into what I thought were tedious details of court proceedings. In fiction, I'm more of a fan of the whodunnit type of mystery, but in this instance, the last story, A New Zealand Tragedy, more of a recounting of police/forensic procedures to ensnare the obviously guilty party, was the most exciting episode of the book.

[Kenneth McMahon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately mostly dull with only the Sayers and Iles contributions shining through, though the latter is a bit overlong. Sayers seems to be the only one who came at the case as a mystery writer occasionally wondering how the real life problem may have been presented in a mystery story, and how a fictional detective would've judged a clue.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really is a mixed bag of essays/explorations of 'real life' criminal cases and for me it highlighted why some of the authors were, and have stayed, popular, while others have almost disappeared from popular consciousness.

[Dina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abandoned. Didn't realize it was a true story compilation and the first story just didn't catch my interest.

[Cat J.F · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did not finish because the online copy I was reading disappeared from Google Books' catalog

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting thinkpieces about several real life murder cases, but the classism and sexism is very big with this one. I'd probably avoid, if I were you.

[Teo-Licious · Rating 3 out of 5]

3½/5☆

I was expecting fictional stories, not essays of real crimes. It was an interesting read, though. And a work out for my non-natively English mind

[Jules Goud · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting.

This book was a little bit hard to read because it was a book of essays. And, I didn't realize that.

Some of it was interesting, and some of it was slow. It was an interesting idea to have authors comment on real life crimes. The points that they raised were pretty good ones and it was cool to see how the processed the evidence and their take of the criminals that performed the crimes.

But, I didn't realize that it was a book of essays, and so, it was pretty hard to read. It took me a lot longer because I didn't really have time to sit down and read a book. Also, some of it was dry and slow.

However, even with some of the dry stuff, there were some that were good and interesting.

All in all, not a bad book, even for a book of essays. Just not what I was expecting.

[Rog Harrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had thought this was a novel but it is actually seven essays about real murder trials by members of the Detection Club first published in 1936. For me some of the cases were not that interesting to start with and certainly I found some of the transcripts from the trials boring. So it took me a couple of weeks to get through this whereas I usually read a novel within a couple of days.

I probably enjoyed the essays by ER Punshon and Dorothy L Sayers the most. Francis Iles (Anthony Berkeley Cox) wrote an interesting essay but his many references to another murder trial, not covered by this book but which would presumably have been familiar to his readers at the time of writing, went over my head reading this eighty years later.

The edition I read was published in 2014 and includes a new introduction by Martin Edwards.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

As you might expect the stories are told in a procedural way, but a good read nevertheless. I enjoyed the concept of true crime told by authors of fiction, it certainly helped with the flow of the individual plots.

However if you like your crime novels to have the story tied up in a bow, this isn't for you; as this is true crime, the story can only be told with the information available, which does leave a lot of room for uncertainty.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's very interesting and different to see these crime writer giants commenting on real life cases instead of inventing their own. My favourite section was the one by Francis Iles, I just love his perceptive and sardonic style and he is certainly the master of the understatement.